In recent weeks, food prices have been high on agendas. According to the Central Statistics Office (CSO), food prices fell for eight consecutive years from 2014 to 2021.

CSO data shows that food price inflation for the past 12 months to March 2023 was 13.3%, while the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased by 7.7%.

PeriodFoodCPIElectricity
1 year (Jan 2022 – Jan 2023)12.9%7.8%62.7%
10 years (Jan 2013 – Jan 2023)0.3%15.5%127.6%
19 years (Jan 2003 – Jan 2022)-6.7%27.1%172.8%
20 years (Jan 2003 – Jan 2023)5.3%36.9%343.9%
% change in food prices vs general inflation Source: CSO

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) believes that “viewing food prices over this time-frame is short-sighted and misleading”.

The IFA reported that between January 2010 and December 2021, the average retail price of vegetables declined by 8.5% and the average retail price of fruit declined by 3.5%.

Over the same period, overall average consumer prices increased by 13%.

Food prices

Vegetable farmers have warned that the sector has had to endure a particularly tough spring and the price that retailers are currently selling produce at does not in any way match the cost of production.

“Below-cost selling has to stop. Selling a head of broccoli for 49c is gone, a grower today needs €1.09 to produce a head of broccoli,” Robert Carrick, a broccoli grower from Rush, Co. Dublin told Agriland.

Pat McCormack, president of the Irish Creamery Milk Suppliers’ Association (ICMSA), has highlighted that politicians are suddenly demanding “accountability and transparency on margins” from retailers after ignoring calls for a “proper investigation of retailer margin for years” from the likes of the ICMSA.

He also highlighted that recent figures from the CSO suggest that the “proportion of total household expenditure on food” has halved in Ireland, and that people are spending less in 2023 than their parents spent 40 years ago.

“It’s time for someone to point out to both consumers and politicians alike that they can’t have this both ways,” he said.

“They can’t have food at the kind of prices that they have become used to paying, while demanding that the farmers take land out of production and lower livestock numbers.

“Something has got to give here and honestly – while it is merited and long overdue – the kind of outrage being directed at the supermarkets is not going to get us, or anybody, closer to the real answers around how we are going to square this circle,” McCormack said.

The retailers

Supermarket chain Lidl has said that it has longstanding relationships with Irish producers, “including Carrick Farms who we recently confirmed a €2 million contract with to supply their Irish cucumbers, red cabbage, pumpkins and salad across our 178 stores in the Republic of Ireland”.

“In addition, we have worked with Castlecor Potatoes for many years and played a big part in developing the onion section of their business, bringing large quantities of Irish onions back into the Irish marketplace,” a Lidl spokesperson told Agriland.

A spokesperson for ALDI said: “We work with a network of 330 Irish producers all year round and in 2022 invested over €1.1 billion into our work with Irish suppliers.”

Aldi is currently are working with 17 Irish fruit and vegetable suppliers, and said that it puts seasonal Irish produce on its shelves nationwide.